Commercially, the last few years have seen songbird Mariah Carey’s wings clipped.
The diva’s newer releases has struggled to match the success of 2005’s triumphant chart comeback ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’, with her most recent effort ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’ tanking quite terribly in 2009.
However, it appears the new mother is ready to breathe new life into her career with a potential label move.
Full story after the jump…
Our good friends over at Mariah Daily spotted the following exchange between the Island star and former boss LA Reid, who now heads up Epic over at rival label Sony:
Mariah Carey: 5 million followers & we haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s about to happen. Epic surprise coming up!http://twitpic.com/72cn5v
LA Reid: @MariahCarey @EPIC surprise? NICE WORDING MIMI! MISSING YOU
Could the ‘We Belong Together’ singer be singing a similar tune to her one-time right hand man? We wouldn’t be surprised. After all, who wouldn’t want to reunite with the force who brought you back from the brink of irrelevancy. The force who, for a period in time, made you bigger than you were before?
Saying that, any one who knows Industry 101, would know it isn’t simply a case of clicking fingers and switching labels. Indeed, it’s common knowledge ol’ Mimi owed one more original album to Island. Hence, for any such Epic move to occur, LA and his new team would essentially have to “buy-out” the remainder of Mariah’s contract (which, despite her lack of success in recent memory, would be quite costly).
An interesting point in that if successful, it arguably says something about Island’s belief (or lack-thereof) in Mariah’s palatability to the current music market. I mean, LA is largely the entity behind Rihanna‘s success, yet you don’t see Ms. Fenty jumping ship. Why? Because Def Jam wouldn’t dream of letting Ms. Fenty go. Not at this point of her career. No. Struggle as she may to sell actual albums, that little model brings in the $$$ for the label in the form of her 360 deal (see: endorsements). Put simply, if Mimi is in the midst of an Epic move, it suggests Island may not see her commercial worth on their roster anymore.
Wherever Mimi pops up next, she simply needs to ensure she brings ‘it’. Because, on the basis of her name alone, she’s always received top billing at what ever label she calls home. It’s oft her material that’s let her down with the projects that tanked (see: ‘Charmbracelet’, ‘Glitter’, ‘Memoirs’).
It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out.
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Mariah is not on “Def Jam”, you idiots. Her label is ISLAND RECORDS…which is Def Jam’s sister under the Island Def Jam Music Group, but the 2 aren’t one and the same. Every time you post about Mariah and her label it’s “Def Jam…” this and “Def Jam…” that. Get it right, please.
She’s ALRIGHT I guess… 😕
Janet is much better 🙂
Janet sucks and can’t sing. Mariah (and Gaga…just had to throw that in) both outsing AND outsell her! 😉
Ok Sam you are so funny! How many times you said “lack of succes” refering to Mariah??? We know who your favorites are sweetheart 🙂 Just let it go and enjoy Mariah´s greatness. We know you love her music
Anyway, I think Mariah is ready to slay us
Mariah can’t sing anymore either 😕 and personally, he GREAT LACEFRONCE has never been impressed by it either. Whitney was better in her prime
But JANET has always been able to DANCE..never lost it!
BIGriah..I mean Mariah lost her voice 😕
Mariah is a queen and i use to love her music. hopefully with these changes she can get back on track.
Mariah can go wherever she’s a legend
@THE LEGENDARY LACEFRONCE
SHUT YO ASS UP!
Shall I remind you of some things?
18 #1 singles.
5 octave vocal range
One of the Greatest Female R&B singers of all time
18 #1 singles.
5 octave vocal range
One of the Greatest Female R&B singers of all time
18 #1 singles.
5 octave vocal range
One of the Greatest Female R&B singers of all time
18 #1 singles.
5 octave vocal range
One of the Greatest Female R&B singers of all time
Get it yet? No? I’ll say it again.
18 #1 singles.
5 octave vocal range
One of the Greatest Female R&B singers of all time
First of all… the move would be that easy, should Mariah use the “First Man” opt out clause in her contract. It states that if the person responsible for signing you to your label be fired, forced out, or moves after the term of their contract is up, the artist has the right to stay, follow them, or leave the Label!
Glitter and Memoirs didn’t deserve to flop cause they were great albums. People just automatically think Glitter is a bad album because of the film, when that’s not actually the case. In rare form, Mariah actually played with her musical sound a lot.
@Clark Smith
H** HUSH!Let me remind you of one thing: The GREAT LACEFRONCES’ opinion is FAR superior to yours
I luv Mariah and I cant wait til the new album and haters your opinions dont matter
Sam, if I wasn’t mistaken Virgin bought out the rest of Mariah’s contract with Sony/Columbia. I believe she had owed them one more full length LP. The Sony move has been planned, which probably why she has been releasing so many albums as of late. She’s trying to fulfill her contract.
To the lamb above, she is technically with Island Def Jam. Def Jam is the rap section of the label while Island Def Jam is the r&b section. Universal Music Group is the parent company that all of these labels are under. Just like Mariah was with Columbia, whose parent company was Sony.
Sam/Rihanna Fans-If it hasn’t become apparent to you yet, Rihanna is jumping ship too, that is the only possible reason why she is whipping out another album, again, attempting to fulfill the contract commitment. Reid is already with Sony, which is the company that the X-Factor is offering the winner’s contract under. Why he would have Rihanna on the show when she isn’t her label boss anymore unless she too is leaving. Sometimes, you have to read between the lines.
Funny how JLO left Epic to the Universal Music broup-whom Reid personally brought over, only to jump ship and attempt to bring Mariah over on Epic.
Thinks that make you go hmmmmmm.
OK YOU MARIAH HATERS. ARE YOU ALL SERIOUS?? HELLO SHE’S NOT YOUNG ANYMORE. OF COURSE SHE’S NOT ALWAYS GONNA SOUND THE SAME. LET ME HEAR YOU SING HER DANG SONG AND STILL AFTER 20 YEARS LATER STILL SOUND THE SAME. SHE HITS NOTES THAT THE PIANO DOESN’T HAVE. STOP HATING ON HER SKILLS. WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST FEMALE ARTIST AROUND. @CLARK SMITH – I TOTALLY AGREE. YALL DON’T WANT TO SEE MARIAH CAREY. SHE’S THE BEST OF THE BEST OF EVERYTHING SHE TOUCHES, EXCEPT FOR DANCING & ACTING. BUT WHO CARES. HER GIFTED VOICE SAYS IT ALL. ENOUGH SAID. IF YOU DON’T LIKE HER THEN STOP WORRYING ABOUT WHAT SHE DOES OR DON’T WATCH HER PERIOD. THATS HOW YOU KNOW YOU ALLACTUALLY WATCH HER AND LOW KEY LOVER HER “GROUPIES”. LOL.
18 #1 singles.
5 octave vocal range
The Greatest Female R&B singers of all time!!!!
Boyyyyyyyyy Same why are you still talking about “Charmbracklet” which was a platinum plus album byt the way. Get the f*ck over it. “Memoirs” is a great album. “Glitter” is a soundtrack. YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT “gLITTER” YOU NEED A HOBBY. When you try to hard you look like an a**. Thats what you are. “Glitter” had some of her best songs and singing on it. Sam has nothing on Mariah so he’s being a jerk.
Lacefront, your bitter gag f**, b**** please learn to lovE, not hate!! Mariah need to take her album back to 1990!! Columbia was her start.
DON’T WORRY THE DIVA WILL BE BACK!!!! #MC4LIFE
I though Memoirs was a great cd . Still listen to it. Cant wait for the new cd
Sam,
shut up! Charmbracalet sold close to double of 4closure so your point?
U re here trashing Mariah and yet u keep on kissing Janet s ass eventho she has not had a single hit album since 2001.
Get outta here!
Oh My God!! who says Memoirs Tanked!!! it debut at #3 in Billboard 200 and Obsessed single goes Platinum !! please go to BILLBOARD !!! even tho it considered as good enough due to many high competitor like Lady Gaga, Rihanna and sort off she still IN IT and still on the Game!! I don’t understand why everytime when you post about Mariah there always a negative side of her! when you and the whole world know that sheis the Biggest Selling Female Artist Of All Time and had 18 #1 single!
And for the Record MC2U is selling like a hot cake this year Christmas and of cuz she will slayed again for her next album .. YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE!!!
LAMBS no need to get Riled up…..
Sam’s FAVORITE is Kelly “Cant hit 200K” Rowland…..
Nothing else needs to be said!
Seriously i love Kelly but the way Sam posted on Mariah is just B*******!! and it hurt to hear all the negativity side of her and i love grape Juice very much as a personnel note! can he just be nice to Mariah and all of her news and get REAL about her!!! DUHHH!!
Ain’t nobody bringing up Kelly’s uncertified album now, or what about the album before or the other one. All of Mariah’s lowest selling albums are still certified gold/platinum. Thats your favorites highest selling album. Lol. Quite foolish. He’s talking about albums that have been out of the equation. I smell desperation. Mariah had a top10 hit with her last studio album on the pop charts, that is about double platinum. Quit the overexaggerating. Each time he talks about her it’s the same ole same ole. You mad because she mops the floor up with you your knock off site and your favorite artist. He’ll be the sameone kissing her a** with her next success. He’ll have no choice.
folks this is not the 90’s anymore and everyone talking about the emancipation, she had 1 hit cd the entire decade?????? the rest just did ok and now she is 42 and a mother of two still trying to be s***? unless she changes up her image and goes back to making real music, she can hang it up
please fire sam, he speakes with no real truth. just a hater and not a true historian or music lover .I can not stand to read his postings, every time I see his name appear I am disappointed in thatgrapejuice. I do not understand his purpuse with your company. I fear I will have to stop supporting thatgragejuice. If he continues to post I will stop supporting thatgrapejuice and my support is not one that grape juice can afford to loose.
Who cares? She kinda over in my opinion.
MiMi is one of the best voices in the industry. She’s a REAL song writer so believe me she will bounce back on top wherever she goes. Ppl don’t understand how hard it is to maintain longevity in the industry.
Memors album sales >>> Your favorite.
If that tanked i’d hate to know what you’d call her album sales, cuz they didn’t even go cotton.
Sam you also jumped for joy over a #1 r&b single, which is great but Mariah had a top7 hot100 hit.
Same sh*t different toilet with you. HATER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You bring up stuff that has nothing to do with newer topics.
Your favorite artists sales combined doesn’t even come close to “TEOM”. Who the heck is still talking about the platinum plus albums that you mentioned above Sam. Your a thirsty clown. Imgunnacheck you u obviously cared enough to comment hypocrite. Join her train of success like all the rest of em.
41…………………………… She is get it correct. She hasn’t been doing anything to try to be sexxy. All u bitter mfers when she slaughters the charts again don’t comeback with the sob storys. This woman is not the flavor of the moment artists. She’s one of the best. Even minus “TEOM”, she had another platinum and gold album. That is still pretty good for a woman that has been this successful for that long. If she had the radio hits during her last two eras they would have done alot better.
By the way her lowest selling albums have been more successful than about 80 to 90 percent of r&b artists out now to. So they just need to can their music career altogether. Such idiots on this site.
PLEASE CHECK YO FACTS! Neither Charmbracellet, Memoirs nor Glitter Actually flopped! Yes, Glitter is notoriously know as Mariah’s ‘flop’ but it actual fact it did quite well,l and on a personal note is one of my all time faves.
Sam speaks of no truth at at all!
The truth is Mariah is the best selling female aretist of all time!
She is has 18 # 1s!
You can’t put a great talent down!
Glitter flopped, Memoirs flopped worse. The only difference is that Glitter is mostly a great album.
You can add ” E=MC² ” to that list …
It underperformed, still sold a million though. More than anything, its clear what happened. Had she not got married, released Migrate (was hot chart fodder then) and kept promoting it, it would’ve did fine. After release week, she hardly did anything, then 2 weeks later she’s married. She did stuff here and there but it wasn’t the same.
@theman
“Same sh*t different toilet with you. HATER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I´m LMAO with your comments. Keep them coming. It´s so funny to educate ignorants and Sam, who is not an ignorant (I think) but he can´t help but shade Mariah, even if we know he adores her music.
I mean, one of his top5 songs of 2010 was Mariah´s duet with her mother. I mean, a Xmas song, among his top5 of the year. Mariah for sure slays his brain with her greatness. He can´t help it.
I like her even tho her voice is weaker. But I liked that song oh santa. I think she can still deliver if madonna, janet, and anyone else can.
She may have been big during the “We Belong Together” era but that was still nothing compared to the “Music Box”/”DayDream” era … she really should let other people take more artistic control of her career but you can only recycle the sappy lyrics sung w/ a wind machine going thru your hair so often.
“she really should let other people take more artistic control of her career ”
Um no. Dream did that on Memoirs btw and its a f****** mess. She needs to find the artist inside that had passion and drive or hang it up.
I hope Mariah does whatever is best for her.
WTF with JANET? HAHAHAHA!! No one cares about Janet Jackson anymore.
“TEOM” was/is a huge era. No female r&b artist has come close to those sells since that album.
F-U
Let the queen live.
1. Janet IS DA BEST & ALWAYS WILL BE THE QUEEN OF POP/ROCK & DANCE! Only female who went out her genre & tried rock & country music & still was successsful(black cat, what about, someone to call my lover)! There wont b Aaliyah, Ciara, Beyonce, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, & Kelly Rowland without Janet!
2. Mariah IS & ALWAYS WILL BE THE QUEEN OF R&B & HIP-HOP! Only female who can sing 5 different vocal scales & all r on point! Christina Aguilera, Fantasia, & Jennifer Hudson wudnt b here witout Mariah!
All different categories! 2 different ppl! Get it straight! Play wit it & rotate!
Love Mariah she has CLASSIC slow songs and what else do she has……………………
WRITING SKILLS SHE WRITES AND HELP PRODUCE ALL HER SONGS……………. making her what u may ask??? THE BADDEST MOST PAID SINGER IN THE GAME!!!!!!!!!! THAT’S FOR ALL YOU DAMN HATERS!!!!!!!!!
EPIC ABOUT TO RUN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN EVERY CATERGORY: RNB RAP AND POP!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA AND HI HATERS!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO
you’re friends @ mariah daily?! i’m pretty sure neither lynn nor jasmine would be friends with a pressed, miserable c*** like you sam. try harder.